grey hawk

We choose to start at the trapezoidal room. We enter and begin searching. We don’t find anything. Gonoan senses that we are about 30’ underground. Sanna returns to the center room and checks the pool for any clues but finds nothing. Pike searches the great eye and finds a secret door. It leads to a small room with 2 doors. Beltin enters. Pike checks the doors while others search the room. Pike unlocks the doors and notices a weird smell at the right hand door. Obregon opens the left hand door. There are several crates of burial linens, shelves with broken pots and violet stains on most everything. Beltin opens the other door as Gonoan closes the first. There are deteriorated barrels on both walls and the floor is covered in the violet stain. Beltin steps in and almost falls through the floor as it is almost like Styrofoam. Gonoan steps into the other room and the floor surges upwards. We decide to abandon these rooms and head to the hexagonal room. We notice the humanoid shape in the floor is surrounded by circular symbols which represent the schools of magic. Sanna believes the symbols indicate a trap trigger. Beltin spider climbs around the circumference of the room. When he gets half way around, the head in the floor coughs twice and 2 shadowy creatures appear. They begin beating Beltin and draining his constitution. Natauru and Sanna each get hit as well. Gonoan gets in several good hits with some other hits by the rest of the group destroy them before they can do any more damage. Beltin moves out of the room and Pike moves towards the other door. As he does, the face coughs out 2 more wraiths. The team takes them out quickly but not before Pike takes some constitution damage. Obregon opens the door and finds a room with a table, chairs and cupboard. Pike finds a secret door in the hexagonal wall. When opened it reveals a 20’ hall with a door at the end. There is a storage room off the dining room with 20 gp in it. We head down the secret hallway. It ends in a round bedroom. We find nothing of interest. What do we do next???

All but 2 adventurers leave. Obregon finds a set of tracks and we follow. It leads us to a ladder which leads up to a trap door. Pike opens the lock and quietly looks around. He sees a humanoid shaped fire creature. Pike moves to the exit door without alerting it but it hears Gonoan. It charges and slams him. Obregon moves in and gets set afire. Obregon turns around and shoots it twice and Gonoan hits it which kills it. We search the walls while we wait for Obregon to find the tracks. Obregon discovers the tracks exit through a double door in the far corner hidden behind some crates. Gonoan moves the crates. Pike opens the door and we see a hall off to the left and right. There seems to be unnatural darkness in front of the door. As Gonoan steps out, rubbery tentacles spring out of the floor and grapples the party. We futilely attempt to escape. Both adventurers drop and the rest take more damage. Gonoan breaks free and attempts to close the door but the tentacles are in the way. He and Obregon manage to escape but Pike falls. Obregon lassoes him and Gonoan pulls him out. After a few rounds the tentacles disappear. Gonoan goes back to the door and hears someone whispering. Obregon ties a rope around Gonoan who heads down the hall and disappears, the rope comes back empty. Obregon smells the flasks hoping for something helpful but they both smell acrid. Then he heads down the hallway and falls to a couple of magic missiles. INTERLUDE: For what seems like an eternity, your universe consists of pain and nausea. Slowly your mind rebels against the idea of giving in to your suffering and agonizingly your eyes begin to focus. Your aching back arches against the restraints that hold your kneeling frame to the floor. As your throbbing head rises you see a shadowy humanoid figure peering across from you into a pool nearly oblivious to anything else. Straining you can see others that are similarly bound. Wondering what could hold the stranger’s attention your eyes strain and peer into the pool. Slowly the clouded surface clears and reveals a rag-tag band of adventurers opening a door in the side of a hill. On their right sits a massive stone gargoyle. Another statue may have stood on the left but now all that is there is a pile of stones. Pausing from his scrying the mysterious figure speaks. “It’s about time you’re awake. I didn’t drug you that deeply.” From the strangers voice you think it may be a man. When he mentions drugging you, your mind reels amid a thunderstorm of pain that rages between your ears. Apparently noticing your pain your captor pauses, leers over at you and resumes talking. “Oh yes it is quite effective, coupled with the restraints. The side effects of being drugged should keep you from casting any annoying spells while the bonds can tame the most savage barbarian. Rogues trussed up this way find it extremely hard to escape. Indeed I do believe I am quite safe from retaliation. Since you’ve already noticed it, why not peer into the pool.” Your captor replies calmly “Do you see the heroes?” He snorts, “I do believe they are trying to save you. I knew I should have been more cautious with the gargoyle. They must have seen the creature and somehow tracked it here. No matter, I’m betting they perish before you require drugging again. As your mind begins to focus you remember that these heroes aren’t just ordinary strangers. If you can believe your memory in this state, you met a couple of them earlier this week. They were the brothers Hamish. All told there were 5 brothers in the family that aspired to be adventurers. Out of politeness you humored them because it was apparent that while their heart was in the right place they lacked training and equipment. Now as a twist of fate would have it, your lives depend on their skill. Surprisingly they, your would-be saviors, make decent progress. Then disaster hits. As they enter a new room an earthen creature rises from its floor. Caught by surprise two of your rescuers fall before they know what hit them. From across the pool your captor cackles as he watches. The 3 that are left draw swords to avenge their kin. Quickly, anger turns to horror as their weapons land solidly but the beast appears to shrug them off. As the creature wades through a pair of the rescuers the one it ignored bolts toward the way out, only to find it sealed by a seamless piece of stone. Quickly he wheels about to meet the fury of the crypt’s protector. Slowly the pool’s surface grows cloudy and your captor laughs as he gathers himself. As the drug begins to wear off, a new sensation flows into old nerves. Here and there you feel discomfort as the bonds…loosen? Yes, your bonds have definitely become looser. Seemingly unaware your captor rummages around for something inside his cloak as you work your hands free. For a brief moment you see your benefactor out of the corner of your eye. A ferret with an odd kink in its back, several unusual scars and an unfocused eye sits beside a hole in the wall. Its one good eye leers with unbidden hate at your captor before taking off down the hole. Finally you’re free and your captor is still preoccupied. Perhaps with surprise it might be possible to subdue the fiend before he can react. Faced with no other choice you go for it. To your relief the others were freed also. The ferret must be very tired for all its effort. In shock your captor is startled by the coming assault. Then his form begins to waver and fade. Faintly you can hear “No, this was meant to be a simple study of ability. I won’t get my hands dirty this time. We will meet again.” We find all of our gear minus what we found on Bronwyn’s body and a lock of our hair. We are in a pentagonal room with alcoves on 4 walls and a giant eye carved into the 5th. We gear up and search the room. We find 3 secret doors. Each leads to a hallway with a door at the end. One is 25’, one 20’, and one 15’. The 20’ hall leads to a round room with a fresco of a shadowy demonic realm and a door on the opposite wall. We leave and check the 15’ hall. It leads to a trapezoidal room that slopes up with a mosaic on the wall with writing in a foreign language. We check the 25’ hall. Its room is hexagonal with what appears to be a person merged with the floor and a door on the opposite wall. Decisions, decisions…

The gargoyle attacks the gladiators, downing one and injuring another. Obregon hits it with an arrow, the gladiators flee, and Pike heads toward one of the 2 doors in this room. The gargoyle drags Gonoan onto the next set of stairs. Obregon hits it again and Pike listens at the door; hearing nothing. The gargoyle drops Gonoan and charges Obregon goring him with its horns. Obregon shoots it again and it crumbles. Pike finds no traps on the door. Obregon stabilizes the downed gladiator. He and Pike notice noise outside and looking out, see a cleric, the gladiators and a number of adventurers. Obregon heads downstairs and tells them what happened. Gonoan and the downed gladiator are brought down. The cleric said that she could not cure the insanity but that it would wear off in a couple of hours. Pike and Obregon decide to take some adventurers with them and retrieve the rest of the group. When the door to the basement was opened, there was a thick acrid smoke. Once that cleared, it was found that everyone down there was missing including Bronwyn’s body. We found a trap door that led to the sewers but no tracks indicating where they had gone. We then searched the tower and found a trapped chest with a note in it from Bronwyn mocking us and saying she had left. Treasure-12 gp, 220sp,557cp, ruby ring(500gpS)(has a magical pill in it, Heal1000gp?), short sword(2010gp),12 bottles(toiletries 2650gpS). We took some adventurers into the sewers with us, where we found some tracks. As we were searching, we were attacked by a gelatinous cube. The cube killed one of the adventurers before being slain by Obregon and Pike. Treasure-2 ceramic flasks(unbreakable, cursed), hematite gem(8gpS), 115sp, 26gp. Meanwhile, Gonoan regained his sanity and headed into the sewers to catch up. (28gp,335sp,557cp)738g,67s,112c

The bird creature listens to Bronwin and moves around the group. Gonoan gets in a good hit as it moves. It emits a black cloud which hurts and causes Gonoan, Beltin, Sanna, and Narturo to go insane. Beltin and Gonoan attempt to flee, Sanna babbles incoherently and N attacks the bird. The Bird takes down Sanna and attacks Gonoan. Bronwin attempts to fascinate Pike and Obregon but fails. Pike hits her a couple of times and she tries to hit him with a lightning bolt but he evades it completely. Everyones insanity changes each round. Gonoan attacks the bird one round and Beltin attacks Gonoan. When the bird hit Gonoan, the acid aura damage kills it. Obregon puts an arrow in Bronwin’s eye and kills her. Pike searches Bronwin and finds bracers, a ring, a locket, spell component pouch, and dagger. Obregon heals Sanna. We continue to act crazy while Pike and Obregon attempt to get out of the way. Beltin manages to beat down the rest of the insane party members(against his will) while Obregon and Pike try to go for help. Beltin achieves clarity for a moment and turns on his healing aura. This stabilizes the rest of the party. Pike enlists some gladiators to help subdue the insane party members while Obregon sends for a cleric. When Pike and Obregon return with the gladiators they find Gonoan stable and tie him up. They find Beltin babbling on the stairs and subdue him. Meanwhile, Pike hears a noise in the living room. A gargoyle appears in the door to the kitchen and grabs at Gonoan. Pike yells for help. Obregon hits it a couple of times and the gladiators grapple it. It breaks the grapple and flees with Gonoan. They chase it up the stairs where they encounter a figure that looks a lot like Bronwin. Obregon shoots it twice and determines it is just a puppet. They continue after the gargoyle and find it stripping Gonoan of his gear. Fade to black.

The guard tells us that it costs 10gp to enter the city. Pike doubts this and begins to approach the guards further on. Mark Restin (the guard) gets flustered and disappears. A merchant approaches us and warns us about him, as he has been swindling people. As we approach the gate, some urchins are begging for money. Gonoan tosses a copper out while Beltin buys bread and turkey to feed them all. We obtain the services of one of them (Foppy) to lead us to the church of St Cuthbert. We speak to a priest who claims to not know of Marya’s whereabouts. He leaves to talk to someone else. He returns with a note from Marya saying to meet her at the Come On Inn, in the Keg room. In the meantime we have lunch at the Sleepy Dragon and get Carrot a cheeseburger and also feed Foppy. While there we find out that there have been a string of robberies over the last few months. The thieves guild is not responsible and have been unable to discover the culprits. The thief(s) have been stealing only small, valuable items and have been getting in and out without leaving any evidence. After lunch, Carrot goes out and does not return. We meet with Marya and she pays us 40 gp each. Obregon asks about the cargo and the hunters but she says the less we know the better. She walks away and Sanna yells out “We will talk about your vampires later”. Marya does not react and leaves. We go to the gate to look for Marcus and the guards escort us to a warehouse but it is closed. We sleep at the Sleepy Dragon. Sanna awakens during the night to noises coming from her fireplace and notices Natauru is missing. Gonoan hears the noise and goes to investigate. Sanna discovers she is now under a silence spell. From under the bed comes a wooden jester, and a little girl doll and couple of puppet sheep come out and she says”Time to count sheep” Sanna burns them, destroying the doll and setting the bed on fire. Gonoan wakes the rest of the party and attempts to break down the door. Beltin and Obregon join the fun. There is a vampire doll that heads up the chimney followed by the jester. Sanna unlocks the door which Gonoan then bashes open, bloodying her nose. Gonoan rushes to the chimney and grabs the jester by the legs, ripping it in half. Sanna begins to put the fire out with Obregons help. Beltin goes out the window and spider climbs to the roof. Gonoan follows and we see there is a marionette spider with the kobold wrapped in yarn along with the vampire doll. Beltin spits acid killing the doll and injuring the spider. Gonoan chases them down and kills the spider. He tries to throw the spider to Beltin but it falls to the ground. He then notices there is something off about a gargoyle in the corner. Obregon comes to the roof. Beltin climbs down and grabs the spider. Gonoan approaches the gargoyle and determines that it is alive. It spins and attacks Gonoan. Obregon hits it twice with arrows. Beltin collects the spider and vampire toys. The gargoyle hits Gonoan again. Obregon hits it twice again, once for a crit. Beltin climbs up and joins the fray. The gargoyle flies away. Obregon shoots it again but fails to take it out. We regroup and finish our night. The next morning, Sanna pays for the bed and then we head to the warehouse. Marcus gets us our gear. We head back to the inn and speak to the innkeeper about what really happened the night before as the explanation for how the robberies have been happening. He is shell shocked and wanders off, not hearing anything else we say. Til 2013

The guard tells us that it costs 10gp to enter the city. Pike doubts this and begins to approach the guards further on. Mark Restin (the guard) gets flustered and disappears. A merchant approaches us and warns us about him, as he has been swindling people. As we approach the gate, some urchins are begging for money. Gonoan tosses a copper out while Beltin buys bread and turkey to feed them all. We obtain the services of one of them (Foppy) to lead us to the church of St Cuthbert. We speak to a priest who claims to not know of Marya’s whereabouts. He leaves to talk to someone else. He returns with a note from Marya saying to meet her at the Come On Inn, in the Keg room. In the meantime we have lunch at the Sleepy Dragon and get Carrot a cheeseburger and also feed Foppy. While there we find out that there have been a string of robberies over the last few months. The thieves guild is not responsible and have been unable to discover the culprits. The thief(s) have been stealing only small, valuable items and have been getting in and out without leaving any evidence. After lunch, Carrot goes out and does not return. We meet with Marya and she pays us 40 gp each. Obregon asks about the cargo and the hunters but she says the less we know the better. She walks away and Sanna yells out “We will talk about your vampires later”. Marya does not react and leaves. We go to the gate to look for Marcus and the guards escort us to a warehouse but it is closed. We sleep at the Sleepy Dragon. Sanna awakens during the night to noises coming from her fireplace and notices Natauru is missing. Gonoan hears the noise and goes to investigate. Sanna discovers she is now under a silence spell. From under the bed comes a wooden jester, and a little girl doll and couple of puppet sheep come out and she says”Time to count sheep” Sanna burns them, destroying the doll and setting the bed on fire. Gonoan wakes the rest of the party and attempts to break down the door. Beltin and Obregon join the fun. There is a vampire doll that heads up the chimney followed by the jester. Sanna unlocks the door which Gonoan then bashes open, bloodying her nose. Gonoan rushes to the chimney and grabs the jester by the legs, ripping it in half. Sanna begins to put the fire out with Obregons help. Beltin goes out the window and spider climbs to the roof. Gonoan follows and we see there is a marionette spider with the kobold wrapped in yarn along with the vampire doll. Beltin spits acid killing the doll and injuring the spider. Gonoan chases them down and kills the spider. He tries to throw the spider to Beltin but it falls to the ground. He then notices there is something off about a gargoyle in the corner. Obregon comes to the roof. Beltin climbs down and grabs the spider. Gonoan approaches the gargoyle and determines that it is alive. It spins and attacks Gonoan. Obregon hits it twice with arrows. Beltin collects the spider and vampire toys. The gargoyle hits Gonoan again. Obregon hits it twice again, once for a crit. Beltin climbs up and joins the fray. The gargoyle flies away. Obregon shoots it again but fails to take it out. We regroup and finish our night. The next morning, Sanna pays for the bed and then we head to the warehouse. Marcus gets us our gear. We head back to the inn and speak to the innkeeper about what really happened the night before as the explanation for how the robberies have been happening. He is shell shocked and wanders off, not hearing anything else we say. Til 2013

We question the kobold some more and learn that Freddy was only hitting caravans for valuables, he is not the one taking the trade goods. We hide the bulk goods in the village. Obregon begins to track Freddy who apparently travels back and forth between the village and another location. We come across a campsite that seems off. Pike and Obregon search the area and determine that someone has buried things here. We start digging and find refuse in the first spot, a small humanoid skeleton in the second which Freddy has visited. We find some interesting artifacts but nothing of obvious value. It appears this was a settlement of some sort in the past and we are picking through their remains. We decide to camp here and nothing of note happens through the night. We head back to the village in the morning. We collect the items we left behind and return to the caravan. The wheels were restored when we arrived. We wait for Marya to return. After some time, we hear horses approaching. It is 3 riders, a warrior in plate, a caster in robes, and someone in a tabard and chainmail. The Warrior approaches and orders us to clear the wagons. The caster begins readying a spell. Sanna determines she is readying lightning bolt. We hold and watch. The wizard casts a lightning bolt at the rear wagon and sets it on fire. Marcus says “Stop him”. We begin to advance on the warrior, trying to get his attention. He ignores us and looks like he is praying. Finally, he tells us that he is burning the vampires that were in that wagon. We are incredulous but allow him to proceed walking around, “detecting evil”. He says there are no others but is concerned when Obregon mentions that half the caravan has gone on. They pay Marcus for the damage and ride towards Dyvers to find the rest of the caravan. We mount up and follow. They block the road and ask why we are following them. We say that we are looking for Marya and they let us pass. We come across a human woman standing next to the road. She seems to be out of place but we pass her by. We approach Dyvers. We speak with a city guard who remembers Marya entering and says she has not left. We seek directions for the church of St Cuthbert. End

Sanna kills the flind in front of her, Obregon and Pike miss the flind who is shouting to the others to take us alive. The goblins and orcs continue surrounding Beltin and Gonoan. The hobgoblins advance on Sanna. Pike and Obregon take out one, Sanna takes out the other 3. Beltin and Gonoan are side by side with their backs to the wall. Everyone converges on the remaining orcs and goblins and they start to go down. Obregon notices a small creature sneaking away from behind Sanna. The last 2 remaining orcs attempt to flee and Gonoan chases after them. A half man/half rat emerges from one of the huts and advances on Sanna while a voice chimes up behind her “he he he, I have your magic missile wand. I want the other one, give it to me”. There is no one visible. Obregon hits Jason with 2 arrows that stick in him but don’t seem to harm him. Sanna hits him with a flaming sphere which causes him pain, Beltin hits him with acid and kills him. Sanna kills the remaining goblins. The flaming man appears and approaches Beltin. They trade barbs when Beltin feels something try to steal his potion. He breathes acid in that direction and melts the real Freddy as the flames are just an illusion. Gonoan chases down the remaining orc and kills it. We loot the bodies and search the huts. We find 750 gp, pearl(100gp), 12 knives (normal), double bladed axe(10gp), 80sp, 800cp, 30 clay marbles, 4 short swords, owl bear skin(500-1000gp), 5 polished knives(10gp ea), oil lamp, giant weasel pelt(1500gp), 3 bottles old wine(20gp ea), silver ring(300gp), flind barsx2, chain shirtx6, great axex6, longswordsx4, studded leatherx4, lt shieldx4, morningstarx5, scimitar. We also find a kobold who we take prisoner. He tells us Freddy has most of his treasure somewhere else but doesn’t know where. Also that the orcs were from a band on its way to Castle Greyhawk and that they came from someone associated with Iuz. Sanna puts a leash on it and sets it to some menial tasks. As Obregon and Pike search the huts, some blood hawks approach and attack. We kill them easily.

The caravan finishes setting up camp. Pike sneaks up on the off duty guards and listens in on their conversation. The guards wonder why we are along and believe we have a rogue with us. Beltin, Obregon and Sanna approach Marya. We ask about getting paid. We agree to 10 gp day each. We ask her what is so special on this caravan that she would be needed. She declines to answer. We sleep. The caravan sets off in the morning. During the afternoon, we hear a lot of rustling in the trees off to the left. We are unable to determine what over the noise of the wagons. Ahead of us something small bounces off a tree and rolls across the road in the brush. Gonoan and Beltin proceed ahead and see something moving in the trees. We have trouble figuring out what it is. Sanna moves up to join while Marya stops the caravan to prepare for possible ambush. Obregon manages to convince it to come out and it turns out to be a talking cat named Carrot. Despite Pike’s objections, we invite it to accompany us. Marcus and Pike discuss the cat disparagingly. Marcus wants the cat kept away from the front of the caravan. Carrot rides with Obregon. The caravan moves on. We make camp. The rest of the caravan attempts to stay away from the cat. We talk to Carrot and try to learn about its past. We learn very little and Pike and it bicker. During Beltin’s watch, there is a rustling in the brush. Upon investigation we find a tree with a face. It makes evil looking faces but doesn’t speak or move. Sanna determines that it is an illusion. Meanwhile Marya discovers that a lot of the wagon wheels are missing and there is underwear in their places. Sanna attempts to divine what spell was used and believes it is polymorph object. All of a sudden the burning man appears across the clearing. He says “Don’t thank me for giving you an extra set of underwear because you are going to need them if you come after me” We run at him. Beltin asks him why he took the wheels. He says he wants our stuff and wants to take it by force; he wants us to come to his camp. Beltin asks for directions and receives them. Freddy says that he wants only us to come and face him. He leaves and Obregon hits him with an arrow and Sanna with 2 magic missiles. He shrugs off both attacks. Marya gives us a cure serious wounds potion which Beltin carries. Pike confronts Marcus now and then again in the morning but learns nothing new. We walk through the woods until we come upon a human singing to a group of humanoids. We spread out and Beltin walks out and talks to the singer. He claims they are friends of Freddy’s and offers his hospitality. Beltin divulges that Freddy summoned him and he is probably supposed to kill them all. The singer asks Beltin to wait while he tries to find Freddy. After a few moments, the humanoids decide they should attack. 6 orcs, 2 flinds, 4 hobgoblins, 4 goblins, 1 kobold. We take advantage of their surprise. Pike shoots an orc in the back while Sanna sets another on fire. The goblins rush Beltin who takes out one of them. The orcs advance on Beltin as well and a flind goes after Sanna. To be continued…

We finish off the remaining humanoids without them getting off an attack. We keep one kobold alive and question it. It refers to Mcgrueger, it’s master who is back at their camp. There are apparently orcs, goblins, kobolds, and flinds at the camp. We loot the bodies and get 160 cp, 77 sp. The other halflings return and we set up camp. We enjoy a fine stew for dinner (Thanks Matt for the chili) During Pike’s watch, a flaming humanoid appears and approaches, looks at us and then turns around and quickly moves away. We are unable to catch it and return to our rest. The next day, we separate from the halflings to return to the caravan. We set up a signal so we will know if they need our help upon our return. We rejoin the caravan and move through the day. We come upon a clearing, and though it is not too late, Marcus wants to stop for the night. He doesn’t feel we can make the next camp before nightfall. As the caravan is setting up for the night, there is a crashing noise from the woods. A large group of humanoids move out and we attack. There are 5 kobolds, 4 goblins, 3 orcs and a flind. Beltin kills 2 kobolds, a goblin and injures an orc with his breath weapon, Sanna kills the flind with an ice knife. They charge us and hit Beltin for a lot of damage. We get in some good hits and notice the orcs are unusually tough. We finally take down most of them. The goblins move around behind us and flank Beltin, who is taken down. When the last of the orcs is killed, the goblins hold Beltin’s unconscious form hostage. Sanna offers to take Beltin’s place. The goblins demand her equipment and she places it in front of them. We notice 2 hobgoblins attempting to take the flind’s body. 2 of the goblins take Sanna, who breaks away. The 3rd goblin is holding a weapon on Beltin when Pike shoots him from hiding and puts a crossbow bolt in his forehead. Sanna and Obregon make short work of the hobgoblins and one of the goblins. Gonoan chases the last goblin through the woods, clubs him and brings him back. Darkeyes heals Beltin while explaining her lack of action during the combat being due to her need to protect the wagons. She apologizes but it falls on deaf ears. We loot the bodies and find 40 cp, 20 sp, 120 arrows, 6 gp, 2 50 gp gems, 2 50gp other gems, 2 handed sword, 3 chain shirt, 3 greataxes, chain shirt, 4 lt crossbows. Lady Darkeyes congratulates us on our prowess and invites us to keep on with her if we so decide. Gonoan interrogates the goblin and learns the camp is to the north.